The Barts Pancreas Tissue Bank (BPTB) is a dedicated research collaboration between clinicians, scientists and patients. It will create a unique and vital resource for pancreas cancer tissue of all types for researchers across the whole world.

The Barts Pancreas Tissue Bank was founded based on the feedback given to a number of patients to the leading pancreatic cancer charity Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund (PCRF). Patients and their relatives wanted to donate samples for cancer research but were unable to do so. There were questions being asked:

• Why couldn't my diagnosis have been made earlier?
• Is there a simple test to monitor if my cancer will come back?
• Is there some research being carried out by you to help future pancreatic cancer patients?
• How can I help research at your hospital?
• Can you develop a test that will ensure my children do not face the same future and uncertainty I am facing?
• Why is there nothing being done to help me and my family in the future?

This Research Tissue Bank is thus a unique research resource where patients and their relatives can donate their samples in a well-established, efficient manner. The samples will be collected and stored with written informed consent based on an ethically approved protocol. This protocol will be under constant review.

Copyright and Database right for the database created for Barts Pancreas Tissue Bank is held by Queen Mary University of London and its employees Hemant Kocher, Claude Chelala and Dayem Ullah, and the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund (PCRF). All rights reserved. Access to the information held in the Barts Pancreas Tissue Bank is provided for non-commercial research purposes only. No part of the database or any derivative information generated therefrom may be reproduced in any form without the authors’ express permission.